abs; and, above
all, a twist or two of cord round the arm, the neck, the leg, or the body,
intended to preserve the corpse from magical influences,--are the only
possessions of the pauper dead.

[31] For a full account of the Twelfth Dynasty tombs at Beni Hasan and El
Bersheh see the first memoirs of the _Archaeological Survey of the
Egypt Exploration Fund_.

[32] The steps are shown in fig. 150. They were discovered by General Sir
F. Grenfell in 1885. Noting the remains of two parallel walls running
up from the water's edge to a part of the cliff which had evidently
been escarped and presented a vertical face, General Grenfell caused
the sand to be cleared, thus disclosing the entrances to several rock-
cut tombs dating from the Sixth and Twelfth Dynasties, as well as two
flights of steps on either side of an inclined plane leading from the
Nile bank to the door of one of the tombs. The distance between the
two walls is ten feet. The steps are eighteen inches deep, and 250 in
number. The steps were for the haulers, the mummies and sarcophagi
being dragged up the inclined plane. (See p. 209.)--A.B.E.

[33] M. Lefebure has lately produced a superb and elaborate volume on this
tomb, with the whole of the texts and the wall decorations faithfully
reproduced: _Memoires publies par les Membres de la Mission du
Caire_, Vol. II., fasc. I.--A.B.E.

[34] We have in this country two very fine specimens of inscribed
sarcophagi; namely, that of Seti I., of beautiful alabaster, in the
Soane collection (xixth Dyn.), and that of Queen Ankhnesraneferab
(xxvith Dyn.) in the British Museum.--A.B.E.

CHAPTER IV.

_PAINTING AND SCULPTURE_.

The statues and bas-reliefs which decorated the temples and tombs of
Ancient Egypt were for the most part painted. Coloured stones, such as
granite, basalt, diorite, serpentine, and alabaster, sometimes escaped this
law of polychrome; but in the case of sandstone, limestone, or wood it was
rigorously enforced. If sometimes we meet with uncoloured monuments in
these materials, we may be sure that the paint has been accidentally rubbed
off, or that the work is unfinished. The sculptor and the painter were
therefore inseparably allied. The first had no sooner finished his share of
the task than the other took it up; and the same artist was often as
skilful a master of the brush as of the chisel.

I.--DRAWING AN